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Keith, Fang, Michael, Dave, Rincewind, Fred, ???: His date with Coselle had ended some time ago, but the fond memories of it were fresh in his mind, as fresh as the scratches all over his sides and back- which were now completely covered, now that Keith had changed back into his regular attire- red and white sleeveless jacket over a black t-shirt, his usual pair of jeans (the bloodstains on the newer pair were bound to draw attention), and of course, his trademark brown cowboy hat. However, Keith seemed a little preoccupied at the moment.

"Fang? Fang??" Keith was calling as he looked around in every direction. Then, as he noticed Michael and Dave, he approached them. "Hey, excuse me," Keith said to them. "Sorry to interrupt, but have either of you seen a Carnivine around here? He-" Keith stopped, however, as he saw a rustling in the bushes nearby. Slowly he sneaked over to the bushes, then plunged his hand in. When he withdrew his hand, it was gripping a Carnivine's leaf-hand. "Fang," Keith said sternly to the Carnivine. "I told you, no hunting in the park, and especially no hunting humans or trainer-owned Pokémon! That's all you're gonna find in this place, Fang."

"Viiiine," sighed the Carnivine. Keith released the grip on his Carnivine, and Fang floated next to Keith, looking bored.

"Sorry about that," Keith said. "Fang here takes a much more direct approach to getting prey than the average Carnivine. Normally, a Carnivine just lies in wait for prey to be lured in by its sweet-smelling drool, but Fang here goes and hunts down prey himself."

"Carni Carnivine," nodded Fang proudly, giving a wide, toothy grin (which would have been his intention even if a Carnivine could grin in any other way).

Blue, Meowth, Hermione, Scorpius, Dikune, Chance, Vernon: "Yer FATHER?!" Meowth exclaimed in shock as Blue introduced the elderly Simisear he had just bludgeoned with his tail moments ago as his dad. Scorpius and Hermione exchanged highly surprised looks, and even Vernon gave a surprised snort.

"Wait a minute, Blue, what did your dad do to deserve this?" asked Chance. Then, the concerned look on the Wartortle's face briefly flashed with slight anger. "...He did do something to deserve this, didn't he?" she added.

Keith, Fang, Michael, Dave, Rincewind, Fred, ???:
It didn't take long for Dave to be sidetracked, almost literally bumping into a younger trainer after a few paces into the park. Rincewind let out a squeak as he was almost thrown from his perch, saving himself by lightly biting his trainer's shoulder before hefting his smaller body back into position as Dave steadied himself. The lad seemed to be in a rush, hurriedly apologising and tripping over his words before being distracted by his Pokémon. Dave chuckled - he remembered a time when he ran at such a pace, but if a life of fishing had taught him anything, it was to stay steady and patient.

"No worries lad, I'm new to this place myself." he chuckled. "Aye, I'd like to get the lake at some point, my other Pokémon are... not so good on the land. But I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that Basculin." Dave wasn't that worried - he was sure that not even a Basculin's sharp teeth could crack Axelia's armoured scales. His expression dropped a touch as Michael started to frantically explain about his runaway Paras. "Hey don't fret kid, this place can't be that bid, she's probably just run off to suck some tree roots or something. I'll help you find her."

At this point, they were interrupted by another trainer, this one a little closer to Dave's age and sporting a cowboy getup. He also seemed to have lost a Pokémon, but this was fortunately rectified shortly as he dragged a Carnivine out of nearby bush. Dave chuckled as the trainer admonished the Grass-type, thinking about the similar scolding he'd given Rincewind not too long ago. Speaking of which, as Fang grinned at them, the Trapinch shuddered, backing around the rear of Dave's neck, attempting to hide from the hungry plant. He might have his own set of huge gnashers, but the scaredy Ground-type wasn't about to let himself become a snack.

"Oh good grief." the fisherman snarled, reaching back to grab his paranoid insect, wrenching him from his neck with a yelp and holding him against his chest, cradled in his arms. "It's not going to hurt you unless you actually jump into it's mouth, ok?" he said as the Ant Pit weakly tried to struggle away from Fang's gaze. Fred, meanwhile, stood still, though Dave could feel a bloom of heat across his lower leg, a faint glow visible in the Torkoal's shell. Warning Embers burst from the Fire-type's carapace, but there was no real power, they were just a threat display. "Sorry about the Trapinch, he's a lot like your Carnivine in that he's always hungry, but he's just so damn afraid of everything that isn't bite-sized." Dave explained, sweatdropping a bit as he had to explain his Pokémon's cowardice. "Anyway, where are my manners? Dave here, Dave Jones. Nice to meet both of you." he smiled, Rincewind's struggles slowly ceasing.

"Anyway, looks like we've got a lost Paras on our hands." Dave nodded at Michael. "Any clue where you last saw her? If I remember my ecology, Paras are real suckers for tree roots. Literally. They burrow under and sap nutrients from them. I can get Rincewind here to dig around any trees and have a look, and I bet that your Carnivine will be more able than most to pick up her scent Keith - Paras are part Bug-type. I reckon that if you keep a tight hold on his vines, between us we'll all be able to find the critter. What do you two think? Ah! Fred, at ease!" he yelped, the Torkoal's shell now very hot even a few feet away, the trainer jerking his leg away and giving it a shake. The Torkoal nodded, the glow fading from his shell as a slight grin spread across his features.

Feel like a different style of battling? Where your Charizard isn't useless
because your opponent has Stealth Rock up? Why not check out the:

Pokémon Animé Style Battling League!

ASB has it's own subforum where you can can start with a basic squad of whatever
first-stage Pokémon you want, and work your way up! Not sure how to begin?
We have a Getting Started thread that covers the basics, plus you can ask for help in our Time Out Chat Thread.

Keith, Fang, Michael, Dave, Rincewind, Fred, ???: As Keith introduced himself to the two trainers, the older of the two tried to talk some sense into his Trapinch, who was shying away from the hungry Carnivine. Keith looked somewhat concerned, though- the trainer was trying to convince the Trapinch that Fang would only pose a threat if the Ground-type actively walked right into its mouth, and Keith knew that while that was sound advice for avoiding becoming a meal for most Carnivine... not so much with Fang. As he had only just stated, Fang took a much more active approach to his hunting. Indeed, the Carnivine gave a sadistic giggle at the sight of the vainly struggling Trapinch. This earned him a reproving glare from Keith, at which point the giggling ceased. Inwardly, Keith was thankful that Fang seemed to listen to him, even if only reluctantly. At the moment, he would take what he could get, considering the alternative would be having an uncontrollable, gluttonous predator terrorizing Fizzytopia. Well, OK, that seemed a tad extreme, considering that Fang was very low in level and didn't have much in the way of attacks just yet. Anyway, at that point, the Trapinch's trainer introduced himself as Dave, before filling Keith in on the situation- the younger trainer's Paras was missing. Dave suggested that Fang might be able to pick up on Paras's scent better than most, given that Paras were part Bug-type, bugs, of course, being a Carnivine's prey of choice. Keith glanced at Fang, who looked exceptionally hungry at the mention of a Paras. "Well, I don't doubt Fang would be able to get the scent," Keith said, "but my concern's whether or not I'll be able to keep a good enough hold on him. It's kind of a big risk to take, I'd think, and I'm not sure I'm willing to gamble the life of a Paras on it... That said," he continued, producing a Poké Ball from his belt and enlarging it, "I do have another Pokémon who could get the scent easily, and most definitely won't eat the Paras." With that, he tossed the ball into the air. In a flash of light, a grey and black canine Pokémon materialized. He stood next to Keith and glanced at Dave, Michael, and their Pokémon in turn. Then he turned to face Fang, and his eyes narrowed. The Mightyena bared his fangs and growled at the Carnivine, at which Fang simply rolled his eyes.

"Meet Sirius," Keith said as he scratched the Mightyena behind the ears, at which the growling ceased at once. "He's probably got the best nose of any of my Pokémon, though my Weedle, Hermione, she comes pretty damn close. Trust me- when it comes to Weedle, those large noses aren't just for show. OK, Sirius, I want you to find the Paras that's gone missing. Sniff around- she shouldn't have gotten too far from here. Fang," he added sternly, for his Carnivine had started to salivate. "No. Eating. The Paras. Do I make myself clear?"

A new Trainer approaches!

As Light enters the park the sun blinds him, after rubbing his eyes and waiting for them to adjust he marvels at the huge expense of grass, trees, trainers, Pokémon, and thar’s even a Lake!

Attempting to look up at the Chinchou on his head Light says:

“Hey Chi this is pretty excit.. wow!” just as Lights head reaches the point ware the electric fish can no longer hold on he remembers that Chinchou is actually on his head not just above it. Light spins grasping to catch the falling Pokémon

: “Chiiiiiiii!”

Light just manages to catch the small Pokémon before he hits the ground.

“Oh… sorrZAP!GWAH Chi… well I guess I deserved that.” Come on let’s go see what’s going on in the gardens!”

Placing Chichi on his head he walks forward preparing to enter the park as he worries about getting bitten by bugs, he starts, just realising a new thing.

OOC Note: The Blue's dream storyline will continue as soon as I figure out how I can make his father unloved by Al.
Wait, this card has a typo... I meant unloved by all. I will more than likely post the reply in the next post, I just wanted to get the Missing Paras storyline underway. I apologise, Mr. Master.

Michael, Keith, Fang, Sirius, Dave, Rincewind, Fred:

Michael barely had time to register the Fisherman's offer of support when another trainer approached them with an unruly Carnivine who apparently was going to attack them. He introduced himself as Keith, which triggered something distant in Michael's mind.

"Wait, You're Keith? Oh cool! I've met some of your pokemon, they are really tough, especially your Weedle... Hermione, I think her name was? Yeah. They told me you're a great trainer and.. Wait, just a thought. How did you get your hat back from Meowth, considering they are all off doing who knows what with my Panpour and Drowzee? Oh well, they should be fine. Now, where were we again?"

Michael watched as the fisherman (who introduced himself as Dave) comforted his Trapinch who was clearly frightened by the Carnivine,
Keith had called the Carnivine Fang, an interesting nickname, Michael thought, considering he seemed to be made from nothing but them. The pair of older trainers offered to help Michael find the missing Paras, causing Michael's absentminded smile to become a genuine smile.

"You'll help me find her? Thanks guys! This is almost like solving a mystery! How exciting!"

Dave and Keith discussed their methods of finding the missing bug, which involved tracking the bug around the roots of the nearby trees, using Fang. However, the ravenous look on the Plant's face made that idea moot.

"Well, I don't really know if it's a good idea to eat a Paras, considering those mushrooms of theirs contain so many dangerous powders and spores. And besides, bugs beat grass types, so I don't know, she'd probably fight you off first, Fang, considering that you both are pretty low leveled." Michael said, in a rare case of intelligence. He wasn't stupid, he just never really showed how smart he could be.

Keith had the same issues with Fang potentially eating the Paras, so he volunteered another of his Pokemon, a Mightyena named Sirius. The Hyena could pick up the scent of the bug according to the Cowboy-like trainer, but Michael wasn't listening as he was too busy admiring the Mightyena.

"He. Looks. AWESOME! You have so many cool Pokemon Keith, seriously how do you handle them all? I must scan them! Where's my Pokedex?"

The teen hurriedly rummaged around his pockets for the device that he had put away literally a minute previously, unaware that he was already holding the device. When he 'found' his Pokedex, he gave off a sigh of relief before pointing them at the two Pokemon he had just met. Mightyena, the Bite Pokemon: It chases down prey in a pack. It will never disobey the commands of a skilled Trainer. Carnivine, the Bug Catcher Pokemon: It binds itself to trees in marshes. It attracts prey with its sweet-smelling drool and gulps them down.

Michael rummaged through his Pokeballs. Hidden underneath the Pokeballs that would house Blue and Dikune, along with a ball that wouldn't open for some reason, a solitary Pokeball lay open filled with tiny spores. He took it out of his bag, trying not to disturb the fine dust within, and held it out to Sirius.

"This must have come from Paras, I've heard they give off these spores when scared and, well, randomly appearing in a bag you don't know must have scared her..."

???, Light, Chichi:

While Michael was busy playing detective with the two older trainers, a new trainer entered the park, holding a Chinchou. The boy was too busy admiring the park to notice that a nearby pair of mushrooms slowly started burrowing towards him, attracted to the light given off by the Anglerfish's orbs.
daaaaaaadun. daaaaaaaaadun. Closer and closer they crept until they were nearly under the boy's feet.
A small giggle was smothered by the dirt it originated from...

Dave, Rincewind, Fred, Michael, Keith, Fang, Sirius:
Dave did feel a bit relieved as Keith revealed the ace up his sleeve, an intimidating quadruped appearing in a flash of light. The fisherman couldn't help but feel slightly awed in the presence of the fierce-looking Mightyena, and Rincewind started to squirm in his grasp again at the sight of another potential predator. Listening to Michael's PokéDex as it rattled off more information about the Pokémon, Dave realised that Keith had to be a powerful trainer in order to command such an obedient creature so well. Glancing to the side, Dave noticed Michael had withdrawn an open PokéBall, a dusting of powder and spore within, and was about to hold it out to Sirius.

"Hold it!" he snapped, quickly reaching out to stop the orb being pressed to the Dark-type's sensitive nose, almost knocking it from the younger trainer's grasp. "I don't blame you for him wanting to get the scent, lad, but as you just said those mushrooms give off many kinds of spores in self-defence. If Paras really was spooked then that dust could do anything to a creature that inhales it. You don't want to ruin our best chance of finding her by accidentally sending Sirius to sleep, or paralysing him." Dave stopped, realising that he was being a bit harsh on Michael. "Er... sorry. I've seen it happen before with a Shroomish. Anyway," he glanced at the more experienced trainer "it's Keith's call, but I doubt he'll want to inadvertently cripple his Pokémon. Paras have a distinctive smell - damp and musty. I reckon that'll be enough for a Mightyena's nose to find her."

Suddenly, his trail of thought was derailed by another burst of light from his belt. Whirling around, he found the culprit, a black, birdly Pokémon staring at him with narrowed, beady eyes. "Susan, unless you're here to provide air support, I'm not interested." he snapped at the mischievous avian, detaching her PokéBall and aiming it at her. "You're going to stay inside until you learn to behave." The Murkow cawed as the device spat out its recall beam, and in a blink was gone. But... the beam stabbed at the ground, having missed. "Huh? Ah!" the fisherman yelped as the Dark-type suddenly reappeared in his face, Astonishing him greatly and causing him to leap back, stunned. Rincewind fell from his grasp, the Trapinch's jaws snapping at the Darkness Pokémon as she darted toward her trainer. With a couple of well-aimed plucks, she detached a PokéBall and a Lure Ball from his belt, easily grasping them in her talons in their minimised state, and took off. Recovering from the attack, Dave grasped the bird's own orb, pointing it at her, but her evasion proved to be too great, the recall beam streaking past her as she ducked behind a tree and out of sight, heading toward the lake. "Damnit Susan, come back!" he yelled, his only answer being a mocking caw from the distance. Patting down at his belt, he realised what had been taken. "Oh great, she got two of my other Pokémon too." he sighed, slumping a bit as he turned back to the other two trainers, scooping Rincewind up as he did so. "Sorry about her. I've been trying to sort out her defiant streak, but she just won't listen to me. Maybe she just needs time to cool down or something. I hope she doesn't lose the other two."

Susan, Suzi, Axelia:
Having literally flown the coop, Susan didn't have a long flight, soon touching down the other side of a small wood on the bank of the park's lake. Releasing the two devices in her clutch, she set about tapping them with her beak, eventually finding the enlarge and release buttons. The Pokéball burst open, the light from within splashing into the water and taking the form of a light blue fish, who immediately looked around for her trainer. Meanwhile, the Lure Ball disgorged blue light which condensed into a larger, brown shape. The Relicanth bobbed on the surface of the shallow water, staring intently at the avian through the crack-like sits that were eyes to his kind.

"Su...Susan?" the Remoraid chirped, "What are you doing? Where's Dave?", powering down the Water Gun she usually used to blast her trainer.

"The nerd? I sprung myself to get a better look the place and thought you two would like a swim" Susan cawed in reply, minimising their capture devices in the process. "Don't sweat it, I'll keep your PokéBalls safe, I just need to stretch my wings." she continued, stretching her limbs as she did so.

A rumbling from the largest of the three indicated that Axelia was about to speak. "Mmm... where... are we... exactly?" the Longevity Pokémon groaned out, his species not the fastest in either physical mobility or mental connection.

"Some park, I'm not sure. The nerd only had that Torkoal and that pitiful excuse for a Trapinch on him when we got here." the Flying-type replied. "The lake looks pretty big though, you two should enjoy it."

"I'm not sure about this... does Dave know where we are? Or did you just swipe us?" Suzi asked, her eyes narrowing as she began to suspect her teammates activity.

"Er... perhaps the latter?" the Murkrow replied with mock-innocence. A flap of her wings carried her to the side, hastily dodging the Water Gun from the Jet Pokémon. "Hey! He was talking to other humans and wouldn't have got down here for ages! I did you a favour! Don't worry, I'll make sure he gets you back. And maybe me, if he earns it..."

Feel like a different style of battling? Where your Charizard isn't useless
because your opponent has Stealth Rock up? Why not check out the:

Pokémon Animé Style Battling League!

ASB has it's own subforum where you can can start with a basic squad of whatever
first-stage Pokémon you want, and work your way up! Not sure how to begin?
We have a Getting Started thread that covers the basics, plus you can ask for help in our Time Out Chat Thread.

Dave, Rincewind, Fred, Michael, Keith, Fang, Sirius: Michael claimed to have already met some of Keith's Pokémon, stating that Hermione was pretty tough. "Yeah, that's Hermione, all right," grinned Keith. Then, Michael asked how Keith had gotten his hat back from Meowth. "I got more than one of this hat," Keith replied. "Meowth likes to borrow my extras every so often. I don't mind, though, I trust him not to lose them. I even trust him to borrow some of my Poké Balls every so often. Most of my Pokémon will obey Meowth, though not my Crobat- she only obeys me, no questions asked." At this, Sirius gave a somewhat irritated bark. "Ah, yeah, and Sirius doesn't like taking orders from Meowth either, though he's not quite as adamant on that as my Crobat," Keith added as he scratched the Mightyena behind the ears. He grinned as Michael praised his cool Pokémon. "I'll be glad to show you more of my Pokémon, though we should focus on finding that Paras of yours first." Once the subject was back on the Paras, Michael produced a Poké Ball full of Paras spores and tried to push it in Sirius's face. The Mightyena backed off, shaking his head, and at that moment, Dave butted in, explaining that the spores could have an adverse effect on the Mightyena. Sirius barked as though to confirm this, then sniffed at the ground. In the meantime, Dave's Murkrow burst free of her Poké Ball, stole two of Dave's Poké Balls, and flew off towards the lake. "Uh-oh," Keith murmured. "If your Murkrow lets those Pokémon out by the lake, they better watch themselves- my Blue-Striped Basculin is in the lake. She's, well... pretty much a Water-type version of Fang," he sighed. "My two Qwilfish are also in there, and the male Qwilfish can keep her under control- wait, you know what? I got a better idea," he said suddenly as he took out a Poké Ball. "Pisces respects this Pokémon more than anyone else," Keith explained. "Go, Ginny!" he exclaimed as he tossed the ball into the air, from which a Pawniard appeared. She landed on the ground and saluted Keith before wheeling around to face Dave and Michael. In an instant, she was in the air with her Magnet Rise, aiming her blades at their throats.

"Who are you?!" the Pawniard demanded. "Identify yourselves! I know Psycho Cut and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Ginny, at ease," sighed Keith. "This is Dave, and this is Michael. Now look, I need you to go over to the lake. You'll find a Murkrow with two Poké Balls, possibly their occupants as well. Make sure Pisces doesn't eat them."

"Yes, sir!" replied Ginny as she floated off towards the lake.

"Sorry about that," sighed Keith. "Ginny, like Sirius, is very protective of me. Only problem is, sometimes she can be a little... paranoid. If either of you ever visit my Secret Base, she'll want to be certain you guys aren't really Ditto or Zorua in disguise or something," he said, rolling his eyes.

At that moment, however, Sirius managed to catch a whiff of the Paras with Odor Sleuth, and took off in the direction from which he detected the scent. "Aha, he's got the scent!" Keith exclaimed as he seized Fang by the leaf and ran off. "Come on," he called to Dave and Michael as he ran after his Mightyena.

Pisces, Ginny, Susan, Suzi, Alexia: Over by the lake, as a Relicanth and Remoraid were conversing with a mischievous Murkrow, there was another fish in the lake, swimming up stealthily behind the Remoraid, ready to chomp...

"Pisces!" came a sharp yell as a levitating Pawniard flew into view. She flew past the trio of Pokémon and floated over the surface of the lake as a Blue-Striped Basculin surfaced. "They are not your food, are we clear on this?" she said.

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" responded the Basculin.

Ginny nodded her satisfaction as she landed on the ground near the lake and addressed the nearby Pokémon. "My apologies," she stated. "Pisces here is not a picky eater. I am under orders from my trainer, who appears to be acquainted with your trainer, to ensure she did not eat any of you. I am Ginny, now would any of you care to identify yourselves?" she asked them.

Laughing mushrooms? (Must of had too many for lunch)

Originally Posted by swampertforever

???, Light, Chichi:

While Michael was busy playing detective with the two older trainers, a new trainer entered the park, holding a Chinchou. The boy was too busy admiring the park to notice that a nearby pair of mushrooms slowly started burrowing towards him, attracted to the light given off by the Anglerfish's orbs.
daaaaaaadun. daaaaaaaaadun. Closer and closer they crept until they were nearly under the boy's feet.
A small giggle was smothered by the dirt it originated from...

Still chuckling to himself about calling Chichi a bug zapper, Light continues to take in his surroundings, as Chichi fidgets on his head obviously wanting to go for a swim.

: "Chouuuuu, chinchou chi!" (Come onnnnnnnn, let’ go for a swim!)

Light takes note of this but is still scanning the park. Is he untrusting? Nervous about meeting new people? Or just unsure. Only time will tell.

As Light scans the bright park he listens to the peaceful sounds; the soft breeze rusting the grass, happy calls of pokemon, giggling mushrooms, waves peacefully breaking on the shore, and the laughs of trainers.

“Ahh, this really is quite nice.”

: "Chi, chi. chou chi chou!" (Yeah, yeah. Now come on!)

“all right we’ll go for a swim”

Light begins to stretch as a stray thought crosses his mind:

“mushrooms, now what was that about mushroOHMYFREKINGGOD!”

Light screams as he leaps away from the spot were he was standing, and then proceeds to sprint behind a nearby tree. Perhaps coming here wasn’t the best idea after all.

Adrenaline pounding though Light’s veins he stutters in getting his message across

It was a nice day in the park, sun shining, pokemon and trainers socializing, it was a perfect place to meet new people and see old friends. And that's what the thirteen year trainer, Jake intended to do. Jake then took some pokeballs from his belt and was just about to call his pokemon out when suddenly he stopped. He had been here twice before, once one he just had Sparky and another when he had five pokemon. Since last time his team had nearly doubled. Times had changed in the 5 months since he had began his journey. Jake then sent out all of his pokemon. "Alright everyone time to socialize!" Jake exclaimed. All nine of his pokemon nodded before each going their separate ways.

Dave, Rincewind, Fred, Michael, Keith, Fang, Sirius, Tasu: "What a great place!" Tasu thought. However just as she sat down and took out her sketch book a Mightyena and some others ran right past her. Though she wanted to sketch the beautiful scenery, she also wanted to find out what was going on. Quickly she chased after the group.

???, Light, Chichi, Dusty: As Dusty was walking through the park, looking for something to improve her jaw strength with she noticed a human behind a tree. The Trapinch's attention quickly turned to the trainers head, intent on biting it. "A nice head to chomp on, yay!" Dusty thought. However she remembered last time she chomped on someone's head, so she discarded the idea. However a new idea quickly popped into her head "Better idea!" "I'll chomp on that humans leg!" Dusty thought before dashing over and biting the trainers leg, not planning on letting go!

???, Light, Chichi, Dusty: As Dusty was walking through the park, looking for something to improve her jaw strength with she noticed a human behind a tree. The Trapinch's attention quickly turned to the trainers head, intent on biting it. "A nice head to chomp on, yay!" Dusty thought. However she remembered last time she chomped on someone's head, so she discarded the idea. However a new idea quickly popped into her head "Better idea!" "I'll chomp on that humans leg!" Dusty thought before dashing over and biting the trainers leg, not planning on letting go!

Light’s breathing was still heavy as he looked upon the giggling mushrooms, trying to figure out what to do.

“Let’s see what can I do here, order an attack? No, to many things could go wrong, I’ve got it I’ll scan it with my Pokedex!”

Light peeks out from behind the tree Pokedex in hand, aims it at the clump of mushrooms and presses the scan button,

: “SCANING… SCANING… SCANING… unable to find pokemon, would you like to scan again?”

“Shoot. Looks like we’ll just have to weight”

: "Chi Chinchou.” (looks like your right)

“But be ready to blast that thing! With Shock Wa

Light, over the pounding in his ears hears the sound of somting approaching.

“huh? What was that?”

CHOMP

"GWAH! WHAT’S ON MY LEG!?"

Light spins his head to get a better look at the small ant lion, Chichi falls off in the process letting out a small blast of electricity lighting up the aria.

: "Chiiiii!?”

Light begins to wave his leg around in a futile attempt to get Dusty off as a new idea crosses his mind and he scoops up Chichi and without moving from behind the tree he says:

“Ok Chichi, *wince* use Thunder Wave on the Trapinch, because he’s in the air it might do something!’

: "Chi, Chinchouuu!” (ok here we goooo!)

The small angler fish’s lures spark with electricity before he releases it upon his trainer and the Trapinch

I titled them too! I told you I would.

OOC: Oh my god this reply is so long and I am so sorry for making you wait.
I'm guessing that i'm leading the chase for Paras?The Mind of the Monkey
Blue, Meowth, Hermione, Scorpius, Dikune, Chance, Vernon:
While the other Pokemon were still recovering from Blue's shocking admission, Dikune was furiously scribbling in his notebook.

'Blue has just introduced his father to us in a way that defies belief. The Simisear seems to be in terrible pain induced by a violent outburst by Blue... maybe this is why he needs power? Hatred for ones father, for lack of a professional term, is natural at times... but not to this extent. All I need now is a motive...'

Dikune was saved the trouble when Chance asked the question they were all wondering. Why did the Simisear deserve this cruel treatment?

"Deserve it? Do you think I would be doing this if he didn't deserve it?" Blue said, sneering at his father. The Simipour grabbed his fathers neck and pulled him up onto his feet.

"Gather round, my friends, and the snake himself will confess his misdeeds!"

With that, a psychic aura formed around Blue, shaping itself into a cruel tribute to his father, a perfect Role Play of the Simisear. It spoke in a gravelly tone that Dikune assumed was the voice of the Fire-type in Blue's grip, causing another spike of pain in the tapir.

'Argh... that hurt more than the last one... what is going on?'

"Well, my friends, I stand here today in the shape of my father to admit his crimes for him. This monkey is an unworthy father, an unjust ruler and worst of all, a murderer. He begat three children with three different mates, and exiled them all so that he would never have to give up his position of power. He ruled with terror, not allowing anyone to speak out against him or be as privilaged as him. But some did, one of his mates, my step mother, a Simisage did. She was friends with a human who lived by our colony, which was the greatest crime in this monsters eyes. She had snuck out to meet him one faithful day, in order to get him to battle and defeat father dearest... there was a great fire that day. His house was burnt to the ground. She died alongside her human friend, and another human was injured. That human was rescued by my mother, thankfully, who had went with Simisage, but I don't know what happened to him. It probably messed him up. But father dearest didn't care, because he was safe again in his little treetop home.

I didn't know I had siblings. I befriended them unknowing of my relation to them. We even had little nicknames for eachother. Blue isn't my real name, We never had real names because in our tribe our FATHER is meant to name us. I was Blue, the Panpour, and they were Green, the Pansage and Red, the Pansear. See? Even our nicknames reflected how close we really were. We decided we mere children could stand up to our alpha. We fought this monkey fair and square, and beat him, so he should have stood down as Alpha. But no, instead he angered a poor Nidoqueen mother and led her to rampage in his own tribe, the traitor. His own children had to try and slow the Nidoqueen down.

In a way, I am glad he betrayed his tribe, otherwise I would have never met Michael and my mother would never have introduced me to my siblings, but I have lost so much more now. I was seperated from Green, and Red was badly injured... I don't even know if he survived.

So there you go. This monkey does deserve this treatment, do you not think?"

"Well, well, well. I see now that exiling you simply wasn't enough, my Son"

Dikune had noted down most of Blues speech when another, sharper spike of pain ran through his head. The Simisear had spoke... and he had a weird headache because of this? Why wou... oh. Oh dear. Dikunes confusion gave way for panic. The reason he was in the dream was clear to him now. He could fall asleep. He didn't have Insomnia. He had Forewarn. And it was screaming at him now.

"Blue... you just used Role Play, right? Can you tell what your ability is now?

"Urm... guys, Blue's father has Blaze, and Fire Bl..." Dikune started, but he was interupted by the Simisear speaking again.

"You still ignore your father? Fine. You all know too much anyway. Looks like the only way i'm going to silence you... is to let you all burn."

The Simisear struck Blue hard in the face with his fist, causing the younger monkey to buckle. As Blue fell, the Simisear started to glow an intense shade of red. Dikune acted fast, trying to Disable the elder monkey but due to the power boost of Blaze the disable didn't stick. The Simisear spat out the intense Fire Blast, striking Blue hard and causing the wooden hut and tree to be set alight around the group. Acrid smoke built up, making it hard for the Pokemon to breath as the Elderly Simisear burst into a maniacal rampage. The limp body of Blue lay nearby, his chest was slowly heaving but he couldn't get up. The hut started to collapse, with debris scattering and falling everywhere with the help of the rampaging Simisear hellbent on bringing the walls down on the group of Pokemon.
Dikune dropped to his knees, choking for breath. Tears slowly formed in his eyes as he realised how futile the whole situation was for him and the Pokemon he had willingly dragged to their demise.

"I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry. We're going to die here, and it is all my fault."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dave had almost knocked the ball of spores out of Michael's hands in his haste to stop the teen giving them to Keith's Mightyena. The teen didn't know why it wasn't a good idea until he realised that a few of the spores had fell onto nearby plants and started to make them wither. Yeah, they weren't safe for consumption. The fisherman had started on describing what Paras should smell like, for Sirius' sake, but he was distracted by a light emerging from one of his own pokeballs, an action that Michael would have found funny if it hadn't happened to him just minutes before. The light dispersed to become a Murkrow, a sight that caused Michael to reflexively use his Pokedex.

Warning: You have used your Pokedex 5 times in the past few minutes without letting it charge, which raises Power usage. Would you like to switch to non-vocal scanning?

"Uh... wait, this is weird... hold on" As Michael fiddled about with the options on his pokedex, the Murkrow had stolen two of Daves Pokeballs and flew off to the lake. Keith expressed concern for Daves Pokemon's wellbeing before calling out a Pawniard who had took one look at Michael before aiming a blade at his throat.

"Hah! Fixed it. Now I can just scan the Pokemon and read their entries... wait, what's going on?"

Michael had finally rejoined the real world after dealing with the techincal issues and came face to face with an angry Ginny. Unaware she was threatening him, Michael flashed a cheery smile to the swordswoman

"Oh hi there! Are you another Pokemon of Keiths? I was right, you are just as awesome as all of Keiths other Pokemon! Hold on, I'm adding you to my Pokedex."

Michael scanned the Pawniard, and read up on it and Murkrow. While he was Keith told Ginny to stand down, and sent her off towards the lake with orders to keep an eye on Pisces.

"Well... they all should be fine, they don't have pizza for her to steal. I don't even think Pokemon could buy the stuff. Wait, could they?"

As Michael pondered if Pokemon could order takeout meals, Sirius caught scent of Paras and took off, prompting Keith and to follow it.

"Woo, Chase time!"

The three trainers set off in pursuit of the Mightyena, followed by a curious Plusle who had heard the commotion. The chase had lead them to another entrance to the Park, for some reason.

"Wait, have we gone around in a circle? I don't even know. Maybe if we stay here and wait for something to happen?"

Michael sat down, intently gazing around the Park until he spotted a random blast of electricity given off by a nearby tree.

"Told ya, Poketrees! This must be where she is. Thanks for helping me find her guys! Now, to do some detective work, starting with talking to witnesses."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OOC: Light, you know you don't have to quote replies, right?Paras, Light, Chichi, Dusty:

The trainer Paras was stalking leapt behind a nearby tree faster than she could scare him, prompting another round of laughter from the young bug. This laughter only intensified when the trainer had his leg bit by a trapinch, causing him to drop his Chinchou, and when the Chinchou launched a Thunder Wave at his trainer in order to get the Antlion off of his leg, well, Paras almost died.

'Well, this has gone far enough, I think. Might as well say hi to the poor guy before he hurts himself any more.'

Paras resurfaced and wandered over to the trainer, holding up one of her mushrooms like one would an olive branch, and spoke to the Trapinch and Chinchou.

"Hi guys! Geez, you are so funny, you know that?! Sorry I scared you, it seemed so fun and those awesome glowy lights on you Mr. Chinchou were so pretty I had to follow you guys. What are your names, because you seem fun and we must introduce ourselves!"

The Mind of the Monkey: The whole story behind the Simisear came out- his multiple mates, Blue's siblings, and their exile from the Simisear's land so they could not usurp his power... Blue and his siblings defeating their father, but instead of him standing down, he instead sicced a Nidoqueen on them... By the time everything was said, there was but a stunned silence from Meowth and his teammates.

Then, trouble started brewing. Dikune spoke up to warn the rest of the group that the Simisear's Ability was Blaze, and started to mention his knowledge of Fire Blast, but was interrupted by the Simisear speaking up... he stated that they knew too much... and that he must let them burn.

What happened next seemed to happen all at once- Simisear punched out his son, and as he rose, he glowed with an intense red aura as his Blaze kicked in. Simisear then unleashed a scorching Fire Blast, which set the hut on fire. Dikune dropped to his knees, and with tears in his eyes, apologized for leading the Pokémon to their deaths...

"Now wait just a minute!" Scorpius exclaimed as he scuttled forward. "Maybe you're right, Dikune. Maybe this is how we all die. But maybe it isn't. The only way we can know for sure is if we fight! And even if we die, then at least we go down fighting, and not as sniveling cowards waiting for everything to end! Come on, everybody!"

"Youse gots it!" Meowth exclaimed. "Vernon, Whirlpool! Chance, Water Gun!" he ordered as he himself charged up a Water Pulse. The Tauros and Wartortle nodded as they also proceeded with their respective Water moves.

"Dikune, come on," Hermione added to the despondent Drowzee. "We're taking that Simisear down! Here's the plan- I'll trip him up with a String Shot to the ankles. Scorpius, you move in at that point with an Aqua Tail to the head. Dikune, blast him with your Confusion, OK?"

The Great Paras Caper:
Feeling a little low after Susan flew off with his Pokémon, Dave was a bit on edge when Keith mentioned his Basculin. The same one Michael mentioned earlier? He'd not planned on letting his Pokémon into the lake without scoping it out properly. He was relieved, therefore, when the more experienced trainer released another Pokémon. Dave's eyes lit up as he recognised it as a Pawniard, only to be taken aback as the Dark-type levitated into the air, pointing her blades at his and Michael's throats. Fortunately, Keith quickly resolved it, sending her off to the lake to make sure his Pokémon were alright. Dave exhaled as she floated away. "You know, I've always wanted to see a Pawniard up close. Perhaps not that close, but still... cheers Keith. One of my other Pokémon is a Relicanth, so he's pretty well protected, but I doubt he's fast enough to defend my Remoraid as well."

At this point, Sirius caught the scent he was after, leading the three and their Pokémon on a run. Dave considered recalling Fred, but the Torkoal simply turned up his furnace, puffing along like a little locomotive to keep pace. Eventually, they slowed down, coming to a stop by another park entrance, where Michael sat and waited for some mysterious cue. Meanwhile, Dave detached another PokéBall from his belt, tossing it into the air where light spilled out. This burst formed an insectoid creature, a broad wingspan keeping him hanging in the air as the trainer minimised the device, reattaching it. The Yanma looked down in disdain at the fisherman, still not used to his new trainer, while Rincewind bared his teeth toward the airborne Bug. Sighing upon seeing the scorn on his face, Dave addressed the creature. "Teppic, we're in a park. There's wide open spaces and I know you've been cooped up a lot recently, so go stretch your wings for a bit. If you see Susan, make sure she doesn't get up to mischief, and if you see Axelia and Suzi then just let me know they're alright, please? Other than that, just have some fun." A look of curiosity crossed the dragonfly's face, but he swiftly nodded with a chirp, taking a lunge at his rival insect before turning and zipping away, Rincewind's jaws once more snapping shut on empty air.

Then a tree seemed to burst with electricity, which sounded impossible. This appeared to be what Michael was waiting for, the younger trainer babbling about 'Poketrees' or some such, setting off to look for cues.

The Life Aquatic
The slight reverie of the three Pokémon was interrupted as another Dark-type flew past, each of them wondering what the Pawniard was up to until a Basculin surfaced not far behind them, the former admonishing the latter. Though dissuaded from attacking, the sight of the predatory Pokémon caused Axelia to reflexively tense his scales, Hardening them for added protection in case it was needed. As Ginny landed to explain the situation, Suzi turned to her, being the de facto leader of the little group for now.

"Well, thanks for showing up, it seems you got here just in time." the Remoraid chirped, still keeping a wary eye on the other fish. "I'm Suzi, and the Relicanth is Axelia. He doesn't talk much. And the one with the attitude problem is Susan."

"Ah yes, so the nerd was talking to other trainers. Figured as much." Susan squawked. "Which one's yours? The one in the cowboy get-up? Seemed like an experienced guy. Better than the novice we've been given."

"Hush, Susan! I bet you'd like Dave just fine if you tried to open up to him. You don't have to judge everyone based on strength alone, why not look for their potential to get stronger?" the Water-type snapped back, indignant. "If every newly-caught Pokémon acted like you then trainers would give up after two days of journeying." Suzi turned back to the Pawniard. "Sorry about her, she's just getting over being owned. Or something. Doesn't know when to keep her beak shut." she apologised, earning a glare from the Murkrow in the process, while Axelia was content to prod the sediment of the lake with his fins, stirring up mud as his teammates bickered.

Feel like a different style of battling? Where your Charizard isn't useless
because your opponent has Stealth Rock up? Why not check out the:

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ASB has it's own subforum where you can can start with a basic squad of whatever
first-stage Pokémon you want, and work your way up! Not sure how to begin?
We have a Getting Started thread that covers the basics, plus you can ask for help in our Time Out Chat Thread.

The Great Paras Caper: Keith gave a dark chuckle as Michael stated that they should be fine on the grounds that there was no pizza for her to steal. "I take it you've met Pisces before," he said. "Yeah... Pisces doesn't just go for pizza. She goes for anything and everything that's edible. Especially if it's still alive. You know what Pisces calls someone that stands between her and her meal? An appetizer. I'm just glad she'll at least listen to me. She really respects Ginny, though, for some reason."

At that point, Dave thanked Keith for sending his Pawniard to keep an eye out for any of Pisces's shenanigans. He claimed that though his Relicanth was sufficiently well-protected, he doubted that the Water/Rock-type would have the speed to defend his Remoraid. "Not a problem," Keith stated. "It wouldn't be an issue if Pisces would only go after wild Pokémon like my Crobat does, but that's obviously not the case. Hell, Pisces has gone for her own teammates before. She once tried to eat my Seviper." As he was speaking, Fang was quietly trying to float away, only for Keith to reach out and grab one of his vines, bringing the Carnivine to a stop.

At that moment, Sirius had caught the scent and was off, the trio of trainers in hot pursuit... and the chase led them to another entrance to the park. Michael sat down, waiting for something to happen, and a nearby tree gave off electricity, causing Sirius to yelp in great surprise. This, however, seemed to be just what Michael was waiting for, and he was off. Keith, not knowing what to make of this, merely gave Dave a confused glance. "Pokétrees?" he repeated. "What the hell?"

The Life Aquatic: Once Pisces had been dissuaded from attacking, the Remoraid introduced herself and her teammates to Ginny- she was Suzi, the Relicanth was Alexia, and the Murkrow was Susan. Ginny nodded in acknowledgement of each name. Susan, the Murkrow, spoke up at that moment, asking about Ginny's trainer, guessing that he was the one in the cowboy hat. "Affirmative," nodded Ginny. "That's the one. And your assessment is correct- Keith is a skilled and experienced Pokémon Trainer." After the subsequent argument between Susan and Suzi had stopped, Ginny spoke up again. "I'm inclined to go with Suzi here," she stated. "What you are doing is not unlike if a Trainer passed you up for not hatching as a fully grown level 100 Honchkrow, ignoring the fact that you could be raised to be one with enough patience. Instead of disliking your Trainer for not being the kind of Trainer you wanted, help him to become the kind of Trainer you want."

Paralysis and stuff

laughter reached Light’s ears between the seizing of his mussels adding insult to injury. Light grids his teath as he realises what a stupid thing he did.

“Right, that wasARG… stupid, I failed to get the Trapinch off, nowERRRG I’m paralyzed and on top of that something’s laughing at me.”

Finally Light fights off the paralysis only to find a Paras Laughing at him.
“Huh? What’s a Paras doing here, and why is it holding a mushroom?... mushrooms… huh… laughing… huh… *Shock* You’re the giggling mushrooms!”

The Paras unhindered by Light’s realisation continues on in his speech:

:“Hi guys! Geez, you are so funny, you know that?!”

:“Chuchichu!” (you can talk human!)

:“ Sorry I scared you, it seemed so fun and those awesome glowy lights on you Mr. Chinchou were so pretty I had to follow you guys.

:“Chi *blushes* (thanks)

What are your names, because you seem fun and we must introduce ourselves!

Light still grimacing in pain from the Trapinch, says

“Well Paras I’m, ouch… Light and this here is Chichi *grimace* I’m glad to meet you what’s your name, and is there any chance you could help me take of this Trapinch? I don’t, ow want to hurt it but it’s getting annoying and Chi here can’t do much as it’s a ground type and any water will hurt it too much? Sound good?

The new trainer look’s at the antlion witch is continuing to bite his leg and grimaces. Chichi look’s over at the Paras and is nearly jumping with anticipation of meeting a friend.

The Great Paras Caper
Eventually the group had reached the other entrance of the park. Tasu walked over to the Mightyena, about to ask what they were looking for when all of the sudden a blast of electricity came from nearby, right next to a tree. Once again, her curiosity got the better of her and she walked over to see what was going on.

Paras, Light, Chichi, Dusty, Jake, Tasu: Dusty was having a blast. She almost let go and started laughing as the trainers Chinchou used Thunder Wave on her, failing to even hurt her and instead paralyzing it's trainer. Then the mushrooms resurfaced, revealing that the mushrooms belonged to a Paras, who went over to Dusty and the Chinchou, telling them that they were funny before asking them their names. Dusty was about to respond when the trainer she was biting introduced himself as Light, and asked the Paras for assistance of removing her from his leg. She then, after a small debate with herself stopped biting the trainers leg.
"Thanks, I find it hilarious when I bite someone, the reactions make it all worth it" Dusty told the Paras. "Oh and my name is Dusty"

It was then that Tasu came over. She looked around, there was a trainer, a Chinchou, a Paras and a Trapinch. Tasu started to panic as she spotted the Trapinch. "Oh no, not again" Tasu thought before running over to Dusty.
"Dusty please don't tell me you bit someone again!" Tasu exclaimed.
"Well ok then I won't tell you" Dusty chuckled.
"Who did you bite this time?!"
"That guy over there, his name's Light, and this Chinchou is his pokemon" Dusty explained
"Hello my name is Tasu, I am so sorry for Dusty's behaviour, she think biting people is some sort of game" Tasu addressed the Chinchou.

Meanwhile, a young teen was walking in the park, reflecting on the past, when he noticed a burst of electricity nearby.
Interested, Jake decided to go check it out, who knew? Maybe it was a super rare electric type pokemon which made the blast.
As he got there, Jake saw a trainer, a Paras and two of his pokemon already there. But the thing that really caught his attention was the Chinchou.
He immediately decided to go over to the aquatic electric type.
"Hi little guy" Jake said as he reached the Chinchou. He immediately took out his pokedex and scanned the pokemon.

"Chinchou, the Angler Pokémon " The pokedex droned
"It discharges positive and negative electricity from its antenna tips to shock its foes."

"It's such a shame I don't have your species on my team yet, don't you agree Tasu?"

Tasu sighed. "Sorry about my trainer, he is an Electric type specialist and just loves seeing new ones that he doesn't have on the team" Tasu explained

A tall and (very) angry Russian metal bird approaches!

OOC: any suggestions on making my RP's better are very much welcome.

Paras, Light, Chichi, Dusty, Jake, Tasu, Karm:
As Light looked upon the Paras he felt indecision in the constant pain on his leg, maybe the Trapinch was giving up it’s hold? Aaaannnnnnnnnd… yes! The Antlion had let go!

“Ahhhhh that was better”

Light turned angrily toward the Trapinch as he said:

“Why were” the Trapinch began to speak without giving heed to what Light was saying: “Thanks, I find it hilarious when I bite someone, the reactions make it all worth it" Dusty quipped to the Paras “Oh and my name is Dusty"

Light sighed as he was cut off once again, a small smile played accros his face as he realised that this was what the world was all about; having adventures, fun and meeting new people, even if it meant getting scared out of your wits, paralysed by an angler fish, bitten by an antlion and overall having a crazy day. It was worth it.

Light looked up as a small Pokémon ran up Dusty and began to talk with him, Chichi looked on with interest as the small Pokémon began to talk:

"Dusty please don't tell me you bit someone again!" the Plusle exclaimed.
"Well ok then I won't tell you" Dusty chuckled.
Chichi unable to contain himself let out a small chuckle as well
"Who did you bite this time?!"
"That guy over there, his name's Light, and this Chinchou is his pokemon" Dusty explained
"Hello my name is Tasu, I am so sorry for Dusty's behaviour, she think biting people is some sort of game" The Plusle said to Chichi.
“Nice to m-meet you” stuttered the angler fish as he jumped off Light’s head “I’m Chichi, and I’m sure that Light isn’t angry he’s not that type of person.” Gaining confidence
Chichi continued “This is my first time meeting someone other then Light and Karm , so I’m pretty excited”
As Chichi finished talking he felt the electronic eyes of a Pokédex on him “Chinchou, the Angler Pokémon it discharges positive and negative electricity from its antenna tips to shock its foes."

Jake turned to Tasu as he says "It's such a shame I don't have your species on my team yet, don't you agree Tasu?"

Tasu sighed. "Sorry about my trainer, he is an Electric type specialist and just loves seeing new ones that he doesn't have on the team" Tasu explained.
Light turned to face the new trainer and stuffed his hands in his pockets “umm it’s nice to meet you… I’m Light and this is Chichi, so how” “RWAK!! I BEE COHMING” Karm’s indigent Russian accent exploded from one of the Pokéballs on Light’s belt. Along the rim of the Pokéball white light began to be spill out, then cracks of light spider webbed around the Pokéball.
“S**T”
The Pokéball exploded knocking Light off his feet. Once the dust cleared a very angry looking Skarmoury was standing glaring at Light.
“VHY YOU SINK YOU CAN JUST FORGET ABOUT ME!?”
“I’m sorry but”“VHAT YOU SAY!?”
“u-um tha”“NO NO NO, YOU NO SAY ZAT YOU VER PLANING ON KEEPING ME ZARE!! NO!?”
“n-n-no?...”
“FINE I forgives you, NOW I PLAY!”
Turning to Dusty, Karm quiets down “vill you play vize me? Ya, ya?”
Light gets to his feet and sighs then flushes red as he realises what just happened, “um I’m sorry about that, his name is uh-Karm.”
Karm turns and spreads his beak wide as he shouts at light “AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT”
Chichi looks towards Tasu as he says “well now you’ve met Karm what do you think?”

OMG an update!

OOC: Again, I apologise for how long it takes for me to reply here.
For the Sake of Lightpanda, no. Paras cannot speak human. To rectify this error I shall from now on put all Poke-Speech in italics, unless necessary otherwise.
Now... for the meat of the matter. I hope that this was worth the wait... and if it isn't, feel free to drop me an angry message!

The Mind of the Monkey:
Dikune was distraught as the hut fell around him. The Elder Simisear had, luckily, stopped paying any heed to Blue, but he was still rampaging in the hut destroying the nearby walls and feeding the fire that engulfed the group of travellers. “It’s hopeless… He can’t be stopped.”

The despair that gripped Dikune provoked a much needed wakeup call speech from Skorupi. The scorpion had the air of a leader about him as he called for action, bringing tears to the tapir’s eyes as he realised how foolish he was being. At Hermione’s call, Meowth, Chance and Vernon started to fight against the flames. The burning walls were soon being soaked by a mixture of Meowth’s Water Pulse and Chance’s Water Gun, and the debris was entombed within Vernon’s Whirlpool. Dikune watched their battle, still unable to bring himself from his slump. Hermione tried again to shake the tapir, explaining how they could bring down the beast. Again, Dikune couldn’t move. He turned his head away, trying to hide his cowardice from his considerably stronger and braver allies, and came face-to-face with Blue’s unconscious body. A pang of guilt pierced its way through Dikune’s body. The Tapir stood up, trying to steel himself for the assault they were about to lie upon the rampaging monkey. In reality he still felt worthless. He was a Drowzee, for goodness sake! Usually his foes would just give up after a bit of ‘persuasion’ without a fight, he was out of his league in a real battle. He was too weak to fight the Simisear, even though they had the advantage. Even his water moves weren’t strong enou… wait, water moves? Dikune looked down, noticing he was subconsciously eating Blue’s dreams from afar. Well, that was embarrassing. And unusual…

‘Odd… he’s unconscious. But he is still dreaming…’

Dikune had no time to ponder that anomaly when Hermione put her plan into action. With the concentration of a professional, the small bug drew back before shooting a String of sticky silk thread at the enraged primate. Surprisingly, the string held fast to the Simisear’s legs despite the dangerously high temperature of his skin. Emboldened by this, Dikune held his hand out, his eyes glowing blue as he gripped Simisear with Confusion. Again, the move stuck, the Simisear started to struggle as he was engulfed in a psychic aura.
“This is actually working! Haha! Hey Scorpius, heads up!” Dikune said with a burst of courage and glee. He raised his hand and gestured towards Skorupi. As he did, the Simisear was lifted and thrown towards the awaiting Scorpion who was charging up water energy with his tail. The room almost seemed to slow as Scorpius swung his aqua charged tail around, catching the monkey straight in the head. Simisear’s entire body crumpled and fell to the ground, unmoving. Dikune wasted no time as he ran to Blue’s side, the fires separating them long since extinguished by the efforts of Chance, Vernon and Meowth. He fell to his knees again as he examined Blues motionless body.

“Blue! What have I done… please, please don’t be dead. Please...”

“Well… That was a setback. You dare attack your elder?”

The broken body of Simisear rose up. His face was contorted with rage as his body slowly repaired itself, his bones cracking back in to place and his skin fixing itself together. He looked no worse for wear than when he first started to attack, and it all got worse from there. The hut erupted into flames, stronger than before. The floor cracked around Dikune and Blue with the damage and fire roared within the crater that was created, separating the duo from the rest of the group. Dikune gripped his partner tight, creating a green barrier to Safeguard the duo from the flames. The Simisear laughed at the sight.

“You still try to protect him? Such a fool you are. Stupid child, the boy is gone, you cannot help him. Don’t worry though, you’ll be with him soon enough as that little platform of your burns you alive”

Dikune wasn’t paying any attention to the monsters taunting, for he had discovered the source of the anomaly. His head was resting on Blue’s chest. And it was moving. Blue was fully aware of his surroundings, he wasn’t unconscious, he was merely sleeping! And he was shuddering too. That was a bad sign. Mustering as much courage as he could, Dikune yelled back to the other Pokemon.

“Guys… I’m going to see if I can wake up Blue. He’s trapped in his mind and is dreaming this entire thing! You stop Simisear; I’ll make Blue regain his senses.”

The unholy aberration that was Simisear gave another dark chuckle.

”A dream, am I? I’ll show you who I really am. I might as well deal with your little friends while I wait for your little excursion to fail. At least they’ll put up something of a challenge while they fight for their lives. I think I’ll start with the two insects that tried to be too big for their pathetic little boots. ”

Dikune prepared himself to venture one layer deeper into Blue’s mind as the reborn Simisear charged at Hermione and Scorpius, his body surrounded by flames…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Great Paras Caper:
Michael turned to the two older men, head tilting in curiosity.

“You don’t know what Poketrees are? Hmm…”

The teen started to hum, deep in thought. As he did, something nearby started to hum too, very, very loudly. The source seemed to be a Yanma the fisherman had released. Why on earth a Fisherman would have so many non-water types, Michael never knew. And why was he scanning it with his Pokedex? Wait, he was getting distracted.

“…Nope! Not a clue what they are either. Oh well, let's explore it anyway!"

The teen wandered nearer to the tree in question, inspecting it for anything that was out of place. The Plusle that was following him walked with him too, and wandered past the tree towards a pair of trainers who had appeared on the other side of the foliage. They seemed to be talking about a Trapinch who had just detached himself from the younger of the two’s leg and was laughing. And laughing alongside the antlion pokemon was…

“PARAS!”

Michael ran towards the young bug type, unaware he had sort of left Dave and Keith behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paras was unaware that her trainer was nearby. She was too busy becoming acquainted with the funny group of Pokemon and humans she had just met. One after another, they introduced themselves. The human called himself Light, the Chinchou was ChiChi, and the funny Trapinch (who had just detached himself from Light’s leg) was Dusty.

“Cool! My name is…”

The Paras was interrupted by the arrival of a Plusle, who took it upon herself to tell off Dusty for biting Light’s leg. Paras couldn’t help but laugh at the sass Dusty gave the mouse, and felt sorry for him. He had to deal with such an unfun friend!
The ‘unfun’ friend introduced herself as Tasu, and after everyone else introduced themselves, Paras started again.

“Nice to meet you too, the names….”
Paras was again interrupted, this time by another trainer. This one took no time to start scanning Chinchou with his pokedex, causing Tasu to sigh and introduce him as her owner. Light was visibly nervous as he introduced himself to the new trainer, giving Paras an opportunity to introduce herself again.

“So, as I was saying, my name is…”

And she was interrupted yet again by an angry voice from one of Lights Pokeballs. Paras sighed exasperatedly as a steel bird exploded into the scene. The Skarmory yelled at his trainer in an odd Russian accent, something that Paras would have found funny if she wasn’t so mad with everyone for ignoring her. After Light introduced the angry Russian bird as Karm, Karm asked if they could play.

“Ok, ok, we’ll play later. Firstly, my name is…”
“PARAS!”

That tore it. The Paras was to be interrupted for the last time. She reared up on her back legs and yelled as loud as she could.

“WHY WON’T ANYBODY LISTEN TO ME?!!”

The Paras was so angry, she was literally going to explode… when she noticed that in her anger, her tochukaso had fell from her back. She shrunk inwardly… why did she have to draw attention to herself like that? Deeply embarrassed, the young cicada ran off into the nearby bushes, leaving her mushrooms behind.

The Mind of the Monkey: Though Dikune had gained some courage from Scorpius and Hermione's actions, the battle quickly turned sour. The elder Simisear seemed to heal himself, and the fire in the hut started up again, worse than before. Dikune instructed the others to stop Simisear while he tried to wake Blue up, but this looked easier said than done- now Simisear was pissed. At Hermione and Scorpius. This did not look good. Meowth, Vernon, and Chance redoubled their efforts to put out the blaze. While Hermione was trying her best to not let her fear be so obviously displayed, Scorpius looked nothing short of pissed. Never mind the fact that the Simisear had threatened him... the fact that he had threatened Hermione, that was what had the Skorupi riled up.

Faced with the prospect of dying a fiery death against an enraged and seemingly unbeatable Simisear, Hermione inched closer to Scorpius for comfort, which calmed him down somewhat. They turned to face each other, and shared a brief kiss. "I love you, Scorpius," whispered the Weedle.

"I love you, Hermione," replied the Skorupi as the two of them turned to face the Fire-type again. Though Scorpius boldly stood his ground against the fierce Simisear, he noticed that Hermione was shaking with fright, despite her efforts to be brave. He put his tail around her and gave her a quick, reassuring hug before turning to face Simisear again, just as the maniacal monkey started up a Flame Charge.

"Alright. As soon as I'm clear, Hermione, get him with an Electroweb!" Scorpius instructed before he lunged, the Skorupi charging up another Aqua Tail, aiming it right at Simisear's head.

"Please be careful, Scorpius," Hermione replied quietly, though already she was taking aim with her horn, ready to launch the Electric move as soon as her beloved was out of the way.

The Great Paras Caper:
With Michael unable to explain what Pokétrees were either, the fisherman simply gave Keith a shrug. At that point, the younger trainer set off toward the foliage, leaving the other two to trail in his wake. Carrying Rincewind, Dave followed out of curiosity, having just about caught up when Michael sped off, having apparently sighed his Paras. Dave looked around, checking that Fred was a few paces behind him, which he was, though the Torkoal seemed to have his attention diverted, gazing intently at Keith's collection of PokéBalls. Odd...

As Dave rounded the tree, he saw that there was quite a gathering ahead, with another two trainers along with a few of their own Pokémon, including... "Hey look Rincewind, another Trapinch!" he said, catching his own Ground-type's attention. No Paras though - but there were a pair of mushrooms and a rustling bush.

"Looks like you just missed her, mate." Dave stated as he drew level with Michael. "At least you've got her mushrooms, she won't go far without them." In the meantime, he set Rincewind down. "Now you go socialise." he said, placing the larva a few feet away from the other member of his species, only for him to back into his legs. Giving a sigh of exasperation, the trainer shoved him forward with his foot, forcing him into confrontation. "Go on with you, play nice." Rincewind looked around wildly for something else to do, but eventually gave in, stepping forward and letting out a squeak, before shyly looking at the ground.

The Life Aquatic:
While Suzi was pleased that she'd found an ally to her argument in Ginny, Susan didn't seem to be swayed. "Pffffft, whatever. He didn't hatch me anyway - someone else did, but they traded me to that loser like a common Rattata. I was happy with my first trainer, and until the nerd does something to prove to me that he doesn't just think of me as an accessory I'll show him the respect I think he deserves." she spat, a glint of defiance in her eye. "Besides, I'm a Dark-type. We're supposed to be difficult to bond with. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to stretch my wings." Before any of the other Pokémon could try to reason with her, the Murkrow let out a multi-directional peal of light, the Confuse Ray dazzling all around. By the time their eyesight had recovered, the avian was gone.

"Good riddance." Suzi muttered, before turning back to Ginny. "Again, sorry about her. I hope that she does come to trust Dave, but I don't see what's going to change her mind short of him saving her life." she squeaked, shaking her head a bit.

Just that moment, a droning noise filled the air, causing the little group to look upward. The source of the noise soon flitted into view, the Yanma's wingbeats quieting slightly as he started to hover above the lakebank. "Ah, good, you're safe." he chirped. "The human will be most pleased."

"Hey Teppic, how's things? Did Dave ask you to check up on us?" Suzi replied, greeting her teammate while ignoring his apathetic attitude.

"Something like that. He told me to see if you were ok and keep an eye on the Murkrow. Presumably he can't stand the sight of me." the Bug-type responded.

Suzi sighed, turning back to the Pawniard. "This is Teppic. He's not very warm toward humans because he got abandoned by his first trainer just after hatching. He'll do what Dave says, just doesn't respect him." she explained. "I can't help but feel he gained too many Pokémon before knowing how to handle them..."

Feel like a different style of battling? Where your Charizard isn't useless
because your opponent has Stealth Rock up? Why not check out the:

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ASB has it's own subforum where you can can start with a basic squad of whatever
first-stage Pokémon you want, and work your way up! Not sure how to begin?
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The Great Paras Caper: Keith facepalmed, for Michael wasn't able to explain what Pokétrees were. Keeping a firm grip on Fang, he followed the others. Michael hadn't been able to locate his Paras, but did find its mushrooms. "Yeah, Paras don't go far without those things," agreed Keith. "I say we wait here for her to come back. Fang, don't even think it," he added sternly, for the Carnivine was already starting to salivate at the mention of the Bug-type. Then, he noticed Dave's Torkoal intently eyeing his Poké Balls. "Ah," Keith said with a grin. "I think I know exactly what that's about. Your Torkoal must somehow sense that I got this with me," he explained to Dave as he took one of his Poké Balls and opened it up. "Come on out, Shelley!" Keith exclaimed as his own Torkoal materialized. Very quickly, Shelley noticed that she was surrounded by people and Pokémon, including another of her kind, and tried to pull her head into her shell, blushing furiously. "She's a shy one," Keith explained. "In fact, might as well bring out some of my other Pokémon," he added. He threw three more Poké Balls into the air, unleashing a Crobat, a Shuppet, and a dark grey Scolipede with blood-red eyes.

"This is Hedwig," Keith stated, indicating the Crobat. "This is Helena," he added, nodding at the Shuppet.

"Nice to meet you," smiled Helena.

"And this is Salazar," Keith continued, patting the large and oddly colored Bug/Poison-type on the back. Then, he took another Poké Ball off his belt and turned to face Hedwig. "OK, Hedwig, I want you to keep an eye on him," he stated.

"Cro..." groaned the Crobat, rolling her eyes, though she nodded all the same.

"OK, then," said Keith as he threw the ball. "Go, Pepperspray!"

In a flash of light, a clearly overly-energetic Koffing materialized. He was spinning rapidly and moving about every which way.

The Life Aquatic: Ginny disagreed with the Murkrow's views, particularly the notion that Dark-types ought to be hard to bond with. "You're forgetting I'm a Dark-type myself," she stated, sounding just as defiant as the Murkrow. "And I had no problem bonding with my trainer, I'll have you know- GAH!" she exclaimed as the Murkrow unleashed a Confuse Ray. Infuriated, the Pawniard charged forward for a Headbutt, only to find that the Murkrow had fled. She nodded as Suzi apologized once more for Susan, but then Ginny stiffened as she heard a droning noise. She turned to face the source, brandishing her blades, but it quickly became evident that the source- a Yanma- had been sent to check on them. However, the Clear Wing Pokémon clearly didn't have much faith in his trainer, assuming that he had been sent to check on them because the trainer couldn't stand the sight of him. Suzi introduced him as Teppic, and explained that he had been abandoned by his original trainer. Ginny nodded at this. "Keith has a few Pokémon like that," she replied. "His male Qwilfish, plus his Timburr and Makuhita, they didn't have a lot of faith in humans either, due to having been gotten rid of by their original trainers. But they've all warmed up to Keith just fine, though Helga- the Makuhita- she's still afraid that Keith might get rid of her."

Don't have time to think of a title

The great Paras Caper :
“So what do you think of Karm?” Chichi asked Paras, and he got an unexpected answer.
“WHY WON’T ANYBODY LISTEN TO ME?!!” Paras shouted as he reared up on his back legs.
The small anglerfish jumped in surprise at the Paras’ outburst and he noticed that the cicada’s tochukaso had fallen off. Chichi started and spoke “Um… your”
At that moment Paras noticed as well and obviously embarrassed as she shrunk inwardly and in ran off into the bushes, Chichi watched her go as an internal debate raged do I go after her?, um… yes I will she’s my newest friend, but what if she wants to be alone!? Um… um… Ok it’s decided I’ll go after her, but… but…, no I’m going! “hey wait up!”
With that Chichi quickly Hopped into the bushes following Paras’ trail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Light looked up from his conversation as he heard someone calling out
“PARAS”
Light looked towards the voice to see a new trainer running towards them, as did Karm who was feeling sad as a potential friend ran away, Looking back to the Dusty the tall Skarmory spoke “vat vas zat all about? Vill you play now?”
As the trainer came closer Light began to fret, What if I offended him and he’s coming to fight!? Or worse tell me to leave and never come back!!? What will I say, what will I say
As the trainer came closer Light made a decision, it was to take the lead in meeting new people, so as the traner ran towards them Light stepped out and called to him
“hello, my name’s light and this is Karm” the Skarmory looked up at his name being called “and Chichi” Light didn’t actually turn so he missed that his Chinchou was missing

Four lines, all waiting.

OOC: AND IT IS DONE ABOUT A DAY (and a few weeks) LATE.

The Mind of the Monkey
You couldn't blame Hermione, to be honest, for being so scared. Having what seemed to be an indestructible enraged beast running at you engulfed in flames and hungry for blood when you are 30cm tall would put fear in anyone capable of rational thought. However, Scorpius was above rational thought. He was fighting the fear for one reason and one reason alone. Love. Time seemed to slow as the Simisear barreled towards them, and in the precious few moments they had to rouse each other up, the two bugs shared a brief kiss, and improvised up a defense plan. They would have actually planned it out properly but there was no more time; the Simisear was upon them.

As the monkey charged in, head first, Scorpius swung another Aqua Tail into his head. The resulting force caused the Simisear to be thrown backwards, his momentum throwing him close to the gaping hole that separated them from Blue and Dikune and causing a sickening crunch as he landed. Without getting closer it would have been difficult to see what actually broke but it didn't matter as the monkey was again back on his feet, his body already repairing itself. The same could not be said for Scorpius though; the water energy that had engulfed his tail only took some of the brunt from the charge but it still dealt a considerable amount of damage to the Scorpion, and threw him back behind Hermione. The Weedle remained steadfast, and per her boyfriend's orders she let off a binding Web of Electricity that barely stuck to the beast attacking them before his burning skin made it shrivel up in flames. The Simisear laughed at the futility of the attack before realizing it had done more than he thought; in the brief moment the webbing was stuck to his body it had started to make it numb. He laughed harder.

"Hmph... you fight, even though you are clearly outmatched? You bugs are all the same."

The monkey wasn't just aiming that at the couple opposing him, but the entire team of Pokemon.

"You are blinded by this weakness you share. You think you can survive, so you fight to protect each other. Pathetic. Watch as I show what this foolish masquerade leads to!"

Simisear started to glow a darker orange, his body Overheating, and spat a large, heavy ball of fire directly at Hermione. It was a strong attack, but the collateral damage would be catastrophic. Due to Blaze, the fire was set to not only burn the small bug, but everything and everyone around her. Including the floor they were standing on. The Simisear took no time to gloat, however, and instead started phase two of his plan.

'While that little scorpion is busy whipping up another load of heroics to save his little sweetheart... I don't think he'll notice this.'

The monkey put his numbing hands behind his back, and started to absorb sunlight from the hole in the wall behind them that was conveniently opened by the tapir behind him. If this went to plan, the attack would be launched backwards. Straight into Blue and Dikune...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While this was all happening, Dikune found it difficult to concentrate on his own mission knowing that behind him his new friends were probably going to die to his own negligence, not to mention the fire that his safeguard was restraining was slowly breaking the shield, but somehow he mustered up the strength to plow forward. The tapir started to siphon dream mist from Blue, hoping to change something that could awaken Blue from within his mind.

'Dang it... where is it... where is the proverbial nail?'

Dikune rooted around the monkey's subconcious. One would say this is very intrusive, but Dikune wasn't one for boundaries. Or privacy, for that matter, but he vowed never to take adavantage of his abilities. Much. Oh, hang on. He had found it, that nail. With the finesse of a fisherman, Dikune started to pull the thought out of Blue's mind as one would a fish from the sea. With every tug the thread of mist put up more resistance, but Dikune could see the effect it was having. Slowly, the wall he was facing was slowly fading away into nothingness, the bright rays of the sun slowly peeking into the burning building. But of course, there was a snag. Literally. And once he hit that snag Dikune found himself thrown forwards, and passing out...

...Dikune found himself waking up in a graveyard. Yes, this did freak him out. And so did the state of Blue.
The Panpour was back in his basic form, which was the only good thing about him. The poor monkey was lying beside an empty grave, which beared the name of his brother, Red. That was bad. The monkey was slowly fading away into a dark mist. That was really bad. But the main, big issue what was happening to that mist. It was being pulled away by a dark figure who Dikune could only just make out. It was Michael, held up by puppet strings. And holding those strings was...

'Oh... give me a break. Really?!'

Dikune himself. Or what seemed to be a clone of the Drowzee. Stunned, and a little morbidly bemused, Dikune approached the form of Blue. And all he heard from the monkey was,

"Alone... so alone..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~The Great Paras Caper
Michael's cry seemed to startle the group of trainers and Pokémon he was closing in on. Of course, his single-mindedness made him unaware of the Pokémon who had just ran into the bushes. He finally drew level to the two younger trainers, one of which came forward and introduced himself and his team.

"Well hello to you! The name's Michael, nice to meet you! Your Skarmory looks so shiny and awesome, I'd like one now! Is Chichi your imaginary friend? You have an imaginary friend too! I have one, He’s a Piplup, and he has a top hat and a suit and a cane and everything. Wait, I think I’m forgetting something..."

At this, Keith and Dave had caught up to Michael. Both trainers noticed odd mushrooms on the floor that allegedly belonged to Paras, a point the teen had overlooked as he introduced himself.

"Oh, yes. Have you seen a Paras, about this high," Michael bent down so he was almost touching the floor, "around recently? I've lost it somewhere around here." At this level, Michael noticed Dave pushing Rincewind forwards towards the other Trapinch they had met, and Fred staring at Keith's Pokeballs. What he didn't notice was the rustling bush behind him. He stood back up and started to look around their significantly larger group, even going so far as to stare into Karn's mouth, as Keith called out and introduced more of his pokemon. Michael gawped awestruck at the sight of more veteran Pokémon, giggling particularly at the sight of Shelley's timid retreat and almost dying of an overdose of awesome that was radiated by Salazar's blackened skin.

“Hello everyone! Wow, I never thought I'd see so many Pokémon when I arrived here. If only Blue, Dikune and Paras were here, they'd love to meet you all I think. Especially you, Helena... I never knew that Shuppets could talk!"

Michael was interrupted by Keith unsheathing one more Pokeball from his belt. He threw the orb, and released... an Orb? No wait, it was a Koffing, and a hyper one at that, whom Keith had named Pepperspray. Michael resisted the urge he had to wildly dance around with the Koffing (but oh boy was it tempting) as he suddenly recalled his actual mission.

"I think I know how to deal with Mr. Energetic here."

Michael jumped in front of the wild uncontrollable mass that was Pepperspray and addressed him personally.

"Hey Pepperspray! Want to play find the missing Pokémon with me? First to find the missing Paras wins... a free dance off! Ready, Set..."

Michael jumped into the bush he was stood beside; it conveniently being the bush that Paras had ran off into not a few seconds earlier. What a lucky coincidence...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paras sheltered herself in the bush she had fled into. She watched as three more trainers and a load of scary Pokémon arrived and talked to her new friends.

'Oh dear... I've gotten them all in trouble. What should I do?'

She wouldn't go out there, of course. Those Pokémon were too big for her, she could be hurt! Paras started quivering in fear. She hadn't even gotten to introduce herself! She turned to run again, but a rustling behind in the bushes behind the bug made her freeze in her tracks. Trembling, she turned to face her attacker, spores at the ready...
...only to meet the glowing orbs (and eyes) of Chichi. Relieved, she stopped the burst of powders she was preparing to scatter in self-defense.

"Oh... hi Chichi. Sorry I ran off, it's just... the thought of everyone looking at me scared me. Not to mention that Skarmory. He looked like he could eat me. It's tough being this small... I'm so helpless and weak."

Paras turned to look back at Light and Jake, who were still being talked to by the scary strangers. One of the three seemed to call out a load more scary big creatures, and another one seemed to be looking directly into the bush, staring almost directly at her. Shivering again, she turned back to Chichi.

"I'm sorry, I still haven't introduced myself. My name's Jacqueline, but people call me Jackie for some reason. Please don’t call me Jackie, I don’t like the name. I apologize for yelling earlier. Looks like I've caused a bit of bother..."

Jacqueline couldn't say anything more as out of the blue one of the three strangers leapt into the bush, coming right at her! Startled, she restarted charging her Stun Spore, preparing to flee the scene while everyone was paralyzed. However, to her horror, she couldn't actually give off the attack without the help of her trusty Tochukaso. She was trapped! Or... was she? Thinking fast, Jacqueline ducked behind Chichi, asking the Chinchou to defend her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I've found her! Guys, I've found... Paras? What’s wrong?"
The overeager trainer almost leapt back out of the bushes in joy, but he was stunned by the small bug hiding herself away from him. He slowly leant forward so that he was lying on his stomach, face to face with the small Paras.

“Paras, it’s me, Michael. I’m your new trainer. We’re going to have so much fun!”

The Mind of the Monkey: Scorpius's Aqua Tail had thrown the Simisear backwards, but he healed off the damage within seconds. Worse, Hermione's Electroweb was shrugged off and burned away like it was nothing. Simisear laughed at how they fought despite the futility of it.

"You're wrong," Scorpius snapped, sounding remarkably brave for a small insect who was facing imminent death at the hands of an invincible, supercharged monkey with powers of fiery destruction. "I don't fight because I think I can survive. This is probably how I'll die, but I will be damned if I die a coward! If I am to die, I will die fighting. Not just for my life, but for my friends... and for the love of my life," he added with a loving glance at the Weedle beside him.

At that moment, however, the Simisear readied a horrifyingly powerful technique- Overheat. The most powerful Fire-type move that was readily available to any significant amount of Pokémon (Blast Burn was stronger, Hermione knew, but only a small handful of Pokémon were capable of learning that technique). And he launched it right at Hermione. "NO!" Scorpius exclaimed, but as he dashed forward to push Hermione out of the attack's path, he found himself bouncing off of something. The Skorupi did a double take, and saw that Hermione had gone on the Defensive, creating a powerful Shield all around herself, which served to stop the Overheat. Defensive Shield, she had told Scorpius, was a powerful defensive move, acquired only by the smartest of Pokémon, and very unique as well, in that it was not used consciously, but was in fact put into effect automatically on occasion. Indeed, Hermione herself only just seemed to realize she was not about to die a fiery death, and sighed in relief. Scorpius, on the other hand, looked more pissed than ever before- Simisear had just tried to kill his girlfriend. If there was one thing in this world that mattered more to Scorpius than his trainer and battling, it was Hermione.

"Scorpius?" Hermione said quietly as she noticed how angry her beloved looked.

"Don't worry, Hermione," the Skorupi quietly reassured her, though his eyes were fixed on Simisear. "This guy's going down. Nobody, and I mean nobody, tries to hurt you in front of me and gets away with it." As Simisear proceeded to charge up SolarBeam, the Skorupi jumped into the air, Leering right in the Fire-type's face. Then, wasting no time, he followed up with a Sludge Bomb to the face. As he landed back on the floor, he then delivered a forceful Night Slash to the sizzling simian's ankles. Hermione, touched by Scorpius's outrage on her behalf, followed this up by spewing a Poison Sting at Simisear's face, and followed up with Chocolate Magic. But Scorpius wasn't finished yet. "Hey, guys!" he called to the trio still fighting the fire which threatened to burn down the hut. "I could use a little backup here!"

Meowth came running over while Chance and Vernon continued to use Water Gun and Whirlpool, respectively. "Yeah, wat?" Meowth asked.

"Simisear won't go down too easy," Scorpius replied. "You ready?"

"Youse gots it," grinned Meowth as he extended his claws and turned to face Simisear.

"Meowth! Scratch attack!" exclaimed Scorpius. "Then use-"

"Wait!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly. "This is all a dream, right? That Simisear, it's only a dream?"

"Pretty realistic dream, but yeah," Meowth nodded.

"Then maybe this will work," Hermione said, the faintest of grins showing up on her face. "Use Dream Eater."

Meowth slowly began to grin himself in response to this. "Ooh, yeah, I'm likin' dis plan." He turned back to face Simisear, and prepared to use the powerful Psychic-type technique.

The Great Paras Caper: ''You haven't seen anyone except those two?'' Tasu gasped. ''Though I know how you feel about meeting someone, I love meeting all sorts of people and pokemon, in fact I like to sketch pictures of every new pokemon I see!'' Tasu explained before showing Chichi her sketch book. ''In fact, if you don't mind, may I draw a picture of you?''
Meanwhile a trainer approached Jake.
''Umm it’s nice to meet you… I’m Light and this is Chichi, so how” Light was cut off by someone with a russian accent before one of the trainers pokeballs exploding, knocking Jake and Light off their feet. ''That was a suprise.'' Jake said as he got up off the ground, now caked in mud. ''And this is why we went here today Tasu, to meet all sorts of people and pokemon'' Jake smiled. Tasu smiled as well, though really she knew Jake was trying to be cheerful. She shuddered as she remembered breakfast. The energy drained look. The black bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, even Aco told the group that he tasted a strong precence of guilt, she was just glad that he was being himself for once. Tasu snapped back to reality as Paras yelled about no one listening to her, before running into the near by bushes, leaving her mushrooms behind. ''Hey come back, you forgot your mushrooms!'' Tasu exclaimed before running after Paras. It was then, that three trainers joined the group, one of which Jake knew all sending out different pokemon. One of which was a Trapinch, who was clearly shy. ''Hey no need to be scared.'' Dusty said. ''None of us will bite''

With everyone sending out there pokemon, Jake was reminded of one of his. ''Alright, come on out Aco!'' Jake called as he threw a pokeball in the air, revealing the Shuppet. Aco looked around, nothing interested him really. Instead, Aco decided to stay close to Jake. Jake then walked over to one of the new comers, the owner of the other Trapinch. ''Hello, my name is Jake and this is Aco, what's your name?''